. >> eliot: it's the pew poll that rattled the political ward. mitt romney's four-point advantage over likely voters nationwide in the wake of president obama's dismal performance in denver. did obama just throw the entire election away lamented i have never seen a candidate self-destruct for no external reason this late in a campaign before. i'm trying to see a silver lining, but when the opponent shines with lies and smiles, and a record of people watch, it's hard to see how the it would bent the party. challengers also generally profit from the first debate in eight of the ten election cycles since 1976 the polls moved against the incumbent and a net gain of two or three percentage points for the challenger is a reasonable typical figure. do i deticket that--detect that this is a big panic and charles pierce author of "idiot in america" thank you for joining us. >> thankthank you for having me. >> eliot: is this panic time or should people chill out and relax a little bit. >> it's time for concern obviously because there is a triple number, wh